Human Resource Management 2010

Linking human capital to competitive advantages: Flexibility in a manufacturing firm's supply chain

Yan Jin¹; Margaret M. Hopkins^2,3; Jenell L. S. Wittmer²

¹ Elizabeth City State University · ² University of Toledo · ³ College of Business Administration

Abstract

Flexibility in a manufacturing firm is a strategic choice that advances the firm's superior performance. This is especially true in the emerging supply chain, which makes the firm's environment particularly turbulent. This paper examines the critical relationships between a manufacturing firm's human capital, the firm's flexibility, suppliers' flexibility, and the firm's competitive advantages. Based on questionnaire responses from 201 senior supply chain management professionals in several manufacturing industries, this study establishes direct links between a manufacturing firm's human capital and the firm's superior flexibility, and between a manufacturing firm's flexibility and its competitive advantages. In addition, this research finds that the firm's flexibility mediates the relationship between the firm's human capital and its competitive advantages, as does the connection between the suppliers' flexibility and the firm's competitive advantages.

DOI

10.1002/hrm.20385

Sources

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓